Bvg Berliner Verkehrsbetriebe: BVG x adidas – The ticket-shoe [Supporting Images], 2

Credits & Description:

Brand BERLINER VERKEHRSBETRIEBE (BVG)
JUNG VON MATT Hamburg, Germany Entrant Company
JUNG VON MATT Hamburg, Germany Idea Creation
ACHTUNG! Hamburg, Germany PR
GUD.BERLIN Germany Additional Company
VIRUS Hamburg, Germany Additional Company
MARKENFILM CROSSING Hamburg, Germany Additional Company
Dörte Spengler-Ahrens Jung von Matt Managing Director Creative
Stephan Giest Jung von Matt Managing Director
Marielle Heiß Jung von Matt Creative Direction
Austin Campbell Jung von Matt Concept/Copywriter
Axel Spendlingwimmer Jung von Matt Concept/Art Direction
Philip Maaß Jung von Matt Grafic Designer
Annette Krebs Jung von Matt Account Director
Dennis Wendt Jung von Matt Agency Producer
Josephine Rügge VIRUS / Markenfilm Crossing GmbH Producer
Lukas Willasch VIRUS / Markenfilm Crossing GmbH Director/Camera/Edit
Maximilian Kempe VIRUS / Markenfilm Crossing GmbH Director/Camera
Anton Schenk VIRUS / Markenfilm Crossing GmbH Camera Assistant
Tobias Jall Overkill Photographer
Gernot Wöltjen Gernot Wöltjen Photographer
Andreas Piecha VIRUS / Markenfilm Crossing GmbH Colourist
Nikolaus Grunert Not A Machine GbR Sounddesign / Music
Jan-David Rönfeldt VIRUS / Markenfilm Crossing GmbH Speaker
Timor Litzenberger Not A Machine GbR Composer

Synopsis
Due to Berlin’s underground and anti-establishment culture, young Berliners hate BVG transit so much that they don’t buy train tickets when forced to use it. BVG needed to change their brand perception so that 1) they would respect the company and 2) begin paying for their tickets.
Outcome
The sneaker immediately went viral following its announcement, with international media reporting the sneaker the next day. Reporters arrived on-site at Overkill and the adidas store several days ahead of launch to interview the customers who camped outside up to five days in freezing temperatures. After stores opened, the sneaker sold out in just three hours.
The press (eg : The Guardian, Vice, New York Times, NPR) covered the sneaker in three phases (activation, launch, resale), achieving media impressions of 10.6 billion and an estimated earned media of €14.637.368. Worldwide headlines praised BVG for doing what many thought impossible: Making public transportation cool. Special interest publications celebrated the sneaker for utilizing collaboration over technology for ground-breaking innovation. Finally, the cult sneakers re-sold on Ebay for up to €3500. In the end, we made young Berliners pay for tickets, and made not only Berlin, but the world pay respect to BVG.
Execution
The shoe’s filled with BVG design elements. The iconic retro camouflage pattern comes from the train interiors existing since the 90s. The reinvented silhouette of the adidas EQT 93/17 (also first released in the 90s) was selected to compliment the pattern. It also features embroided transit symbols, the BVG logo, a camouflage sole, and a BVG ticket tongue. The laces are in BVG yellow, and the sneaker’s wrapped in Brandenburg-gate paper (the same graphic found on train windows), and boxed in BVG camouflage. The shoe was limited to 500 pairs.
Campaign Description
Change hate to respect by winning the respect of the hottest underground brand in the world: adidas Originals. With the limited edition BVG x adidas Originals EQT Berlin. The sneaker that’s a yearly ticket for the BVG transit, and features the camouflage pattern existing in BVG trains since the 90’s.
Berlin is the streetwear capital of Europe. Our research found that, despite Berlin’s rebellious nature, young Berliners were still fashion-savy and willing to spend large sums of money on sneakers. After the idea of a sneaker as a yearly ticket was conceived, adidas Originals was approached. We knew that if we could gain adidas' respect and trust with our idea, then we would earn Berlin's respect as well with an innovative sneaker that used collaboration to combine fashion and function together.